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NIHILISM, 






AND THE 



other Isms of the day; 



ORIGIN AND REMEDY. 



How to Avoid the Evils of Class Distinction, and Cor- 
porate Monopolies. 



SOMETHING EVERYBODY SHOULD READ. 



" The Vaeious Steps in the Path of Human Peogbess Wait upon a Gebjiination 

AND BlBTH IN THE INTELLIGENCE OF MAN." (Page 17.) 



BY A PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY. 



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CHICAGO 

1882. 



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NIHILISM, 



other Isms of the dat ; 



ORIGIN AM) REMEDY. 



How to Avoid the P^vils of Class Distinction, and Cor- 
porate Monopolies. 



^ 



^\ 



SOMETHING EVERYBODY SHOULD READ. 



The "Various Steps in the Path of Human Peogeess Wait upon a Geemination 

AND BlBTH IN THE INTELLIGENCE OF MAN." (Page 17.) 

)PYRJ 




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BY A PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY. 




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CHICAGO, 

1882. 



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PREFACE. 






It has been wisely observed, by one of the profoundest 
thinkers and foremost writers in the English language, that all 
things are bound together in that omnipresence, which is the 
abiding place of the infinity. 

It has also been said, by another great teacher, with whose 
sayings you are all familiar, " Seek and ye shall find, knock and 
it shall be opened unto you." 

The following pages are the result of a search for a solution 
of the origin, and remedy, of the social and political evils that 
have always afflicted humanity. I present them to the public, 
in the hope that they will result in lasting good to my kind — 
that the seed I scatter may fall upon good soil — that it may 
germinate, and grow into a sort of tree of life, beneath whose 
branches my own posterity may find shelter and protection. 



* * * We are sparkles on the sea 
Still forever rising, following, mingling with the mighty roar, 
Wave on wave, the generations, break upon the eternal shore. 

— J. T. Trowbridge. 

" Force on the part of interests that are disturbed may post- 
pone the crisis, but it is inevitable when the intellect of a people 
has outgrown its faith. 

" It is the most solemn of all the duties of governments, when 
once they have become aware of such momentous conditions, to 
prepare the nations for its fearful consequences." 

— Draper s ''''Intellectual Development.'" 



Copyright, 1882, by H. C. Moore. 



CONTENTS. 



Social and political evils originate in imperceptible sources. 

General views of obstructions to human progress. — Use of intelligence neces- 
sary to remove them. 

Past and present political and social evils traced to their source. 

Origin of human laws and customs briefly set forth. 

Human slavery, kingly and priestly rule were founded in selfish and unjust 
ambition. 

Ignorance and superstition the leverage by which they were established. 

Influence of a higher civilization in toning down men's selfish, grasping cu- 
pidity. 

Ownership of the human being inconsistent with present ideas. — Query: Is 
not as abject a condition of human servitude attainable by stress of laws 
tending to inequality of condition as by absolute legal ownership of 
the human chattel ? 

Wars of conquest, dismemberment and destruction of governments, human 
slavery and their attendant tvils, originated in class or individual cnpid- 
ity and injustice. 

The teachings of philosophy and religion suggest the remedy. 

Rights of majorities. 

The rule to govern in adoption of reforms : Will the good more than coun- 
terbalance the evil? 

The remedy : Graduated taxation on property incomes and legacies for the 
support of government. 

Is it a just system? — Individual responsibility for personal service, in defense 
of government, of poor and rich, proves the justice of the graduated 
system. 

Will graduated taxation retard the great enterprises of the world, consid- 
ered. 

Influence of the measure in stimulating effort to acquire a competence, and 
in a tendency to check an undue effort of the acquisitive spirit. 

Teachings of Christ and Shakespeare : Stewardship of man. — Is man his 
brother's keeper, and to what extent is the property owner responsible. 

Man but an intelligent factor in the alchemy of life, working out the great 
designs of the intelligent, all-pervading mind. 

The measure but a culmination of the gospel of goodwill to man. 



Nihilism and the Isms of the Day. 

THEIR CAUSE AND REMEDY. 



The sources of the evils of associated man — like the 
beginnings of the diseases of the individual man — are, to 
the casual observer, trifling and insignificant, and in both 
cases are too often disregarded until their consequences 
have acquired an irresistible force. Like the cyclone of the 
elements, social and political upheavals come from a gradual 
and apparently peaceful assembling of forces, that finally 
scatter devastation in their track. 

The various isms of the day have their origin in evils, 
originating in these silent and imperceptible sources. They 
are the germs, the beginnings of the storm-clouds, the mut- 
terings of the distant thunder, that, if we fail to investigate, 
if we neglect to trace their origin and apply the remedy, 
will culminate in a political and social cyclone that will 
sweep the land as with a besom of destruction, such as has 
too often desolated the earth. 

All reforms of a radical nature meet with opposition 
from a certain class of conservatives, who look upon human 
evils as unavoidable results from the operation of a malign 
and powerful being, against whose efforts there is no other 
remedy than in supplication for protection to the supreme 
Author and Creator. While I would by no word seek to 
lessen the sentiment of respect and veneration toward that 
all-powerful and ever present intelligence, I would urge 
upon this conservative class the fact that our intelligence, 
drawn from that supreme fountain, was bestowed upon us 
to be used in tracing out the laws under which we hold our 
existence here, and that only by its use directing our ca- 
pacities can we overcome or neutralize the evils by which 
we are assailed. 

This religious, conservative class, and the followers of 
the pessimist school of thought in general, who hold that 
evil and suffering are normal and unavoidable conditions, 
join hands across a wide chasm, to hinder efforts of advance 
and improvement. 



The great struggles of humanity, those which have re- 
sulted in its lasting good, have always had their origin in 
some clear thinking intelligence, around which human forces 
gathered till these forces assumed proportions to cope with 
the evils it wished to destroy. 

Tyranny on the one hand, and superstition on the other, 
kept buried, knowledge of vital importance to human wel- 
fare. For want of a broadly spread and comprehensive in- 
telligence, struggles for great reforms have usually culmi- 
nated in human slaughter before the right has triumphed. 

The most powerful obstacles to the adoption of reforms, in 
laws regulating social and political life, have been found in 
their opposition to the privileges which previous customs 
and laws had conferred upon the individual or class. For 
them to yield up, without a struggle, positions of power and 
wealth, from motives of humanity to mankind, has been of 
rare occurrence. 

In the struggle to elevate our barbarous natures (from 
which condition records of remote times indicate we all 
sprung) to our present civilization, customs and laws could 
not be expected to be formed, superior to their originators. 
Blind idolatry and reverence of the past has been the bul- 
wark behind which tyranny and oppression have always en- 
trenched themselves. Innovation is a force they always 
dreaded and resisted. 

The light of this nineteenth century is beginning 
to illuminate the errors of the past; its investigating 
spirit is rapidly undermining their foundations. No 
system, not founded on absolute justice, can long withstand 
the spread of that knowledge which, like the electric flash, 
is penetrating the darkened recesses of the earth ; but might, 
entrenched behind custom, law and bigotry, turns a deaf ear 
to the demands of humanity until terror of final conse- 
quences forces concessions. 

Experience is the great teacher and experiment the test 
that proves or annihilates theories. Progress springs from 
the activity of the intellect in developing theories and put- 
ting them to actual test. 

" The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind 
exceeding sure/' 

Growth, change and progress is the order of the uni- 
verse. The dull intellect of savage man learns but slowly, 
until he advances from the simple experiences of the senses 



and begins to eliminate theories and to trace the underlying 
principles of that experience. 

Memory reminds him that fire will burn, and cold 
and hunger pinch, and his dull perception teaches him, with- 
out forming it into a logical proposition, that, as there has 
been a yesterday, there will probably be a to-morrow, and 
that he must make some provision or he must suffer. It is 
the school of suffering and enjoyment that is the indispen- 
sable spur to effort. Here human growth and progress 
make their start. 

The tenacity with which humanity holds to its time-hon- 
ored errors, forms one of the great obstacles to the reception 
of any new truth or invention that exposes their insuffi- 
ciency or fallacy. Dogmas on government, finance or reli- 
gion, impinging upon classes already arrayed under oppos- 
ing ones, breed relentless war. Were it possible to eliminate 
the visionary, the impracticable, from the schemes of reform- 
ers and world-saviors, much more practical good would 
result from their efforts. To be perfectly practical, such 
schemes must be based upon the eternal fitness of things, 
as near as we can ascertain what that fitness is, upon known 
conditions and forces. 

True progress results from finding out that fitness and 
those conditions, and applying the forces just as the end re- 
quires. Too much force applied there, as in the overcharge 
of a piece of ordnance, results in disastrous consequences 
instead of the object designed. We can see this to be the 
fact, in the reaction that always follows extreme and over- 
strained measures. 

Unequal distribution of property is the fountain 
whence socialism sprung. Tyrannical governments gene- 
rated Nihilism, and the overgrown power of the moneyed 
class in' our own country created the fiat idea of the green- 
backer and caused the formation of labor unions, farmers' alii 
ance clubs and anti-monopolies in general. In each and 
every one of these cases, extremes followed extremes. 

Aged custom demands respect and veneration, whether 
deserving or not. 

When the old Dutch farmer rebuked his son for throw- 
ing away the stone with which he and his ancestry had 
balanced their grists to the mill, he but gave expression to 
a common feeling of envy at being surpassed by others. 



" Oh, yes," said he, " py sure, you pees shmart, ain't you ? 
You knows more than your fader and moder, or your great, 
great-grandfader, don't you? We don't know nothing any 



more." 



The old man was sound, though satirical. 

Crippled-up antiquity must look out for its honors. 

The young giant, Progress, has the bit fairly between 
his teeth, and it's no use sawing the lines to stop his career. 

Rotten axles and defective wheels of ancient customs 
mus*t be laid aside, and new and perfect ones suitable to the 
courser behind which we are traveling, substituted, or there 
is danger we shall get our bones broken and our brains 
spilled, in the smash-up liable to occur. 

The injury inflicted upon humanity by ignorance, super- 
stition and bigotry, is forcibly illustrated by the murder of 
Hypatia and the destruction of the Temple of Serapis, with its 
immense library and museum — it then being the greatest de- 
pository of human knowledge in the world. The account given 
by Draper, in his Intellectual Development of Europe, of this 
murder, is perfectly sickening in its details, and the fact 
that such acts have ever been perpetrated by human beings, 
and a possible liability to their repetition, suggest the old 
question : Is thy servant a dog that he should do these 
things ?j 

He says that a few years after the destruction of this 
temple, St. Cyril instigated the murder of Hypatia, a teacher 
and lecturer on philosophic subjects, mainly Platonic, such 
as Where am 1 ? What am I ? and What can I know ? 

" Each day, before her door, stood a long train of chariots. 
Her lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and fashion 
of Alexandria. She is seized and dragged from her chariot, 
on her way to her academy, by Cyril's mob of many monks. 
Stripped naked in the public streets by these bare-legged 
and black-cowled fiends, she is hauled into an adjacent 
church and there killed by the club of Peter the Reader. 
The assassins outraged the naked corpse, dismembered it, 
and, incredible to be said, finished their infernal crime by 
scraping the flesh from the bones with oyster shells, and 
casting the remains into the fire." 

The pages of history are crowded with the annals of 
similar outrageous crimes — those occurring during the 
French Revolution, standing out with a marked prominence. 
In considering these horrible events in connection with my 



8 

subject, the question at once arises, how far are they attrib- 
utable to the inequality of condition and rights of man? 
With the masses, treated virtually as the slaves of rulers 
and priests, whose selfish interests were liable to be under- 
mined by a general spread of intelligence, there was but a 
poor chance to uplift and enlighten the race, and it is evident 
at a glance that such were the facts. We are now far 
removed by the lapse of time from their periods ; but a 
simple statement of the facts establishes the truth of the 
statement, without argument. 

But we have, in priestly writings, point-blank and incon- 
testable evidence of their efforts and influence in checking 
the spread of knowledge. 

Lactantius, one of the spiritual lights of that day, says 
of the globular form of the Earth : " Is it possible that man 
can be so absurd as to believe that the crops and trees on 
the other side of the Earth hang downward, and that men 
have their feet higher than their heads? St. Augustine 
says it is impossible there should be inhabitants on the other 
side of the Earth, since no such race is recorded by Scrip- 
ture among the descendents of Adam." 

The great church historian, Eusebius, says : " It is not 
through ignorance of things admired by philosophers, but 
through contempt of such useless labor, that we think so 
little of these things." 

So our modern colored philosopher, the Reverend Brother 
Jasper, of Richmond, is not without support of high ecclesi- 
astical authority in his opinion that the sun moves, and the 
Earth stands still. 

These efforts to suppress the spread of facts and truths 
cited, were backed up by innumerable ones, equally terrible. 
The rack, the thumb-screw, the gibbet and the stake were 
but a daily resort, as witness the fate of Bruno, Wickliff, 
and hosts of others, victims of the Inquisition. Where 
were the guardian angels of the human race during all these 
dark, eventful periods ? The record of these deeds should 
thunder in our ears the great truth and fact of compensation 
and retribution for the acts of man. They follow in an 
endless — an inseparable chain. The guardian angel of the 
human race is that powerful, that all-pervading intelligence, 
that superintends, controls and directs the infinite operations 
of the universe. To the whisperings of that intelligence to 
the conscience and intelligence of man, we must look for 



protection to his interests and welfare. Man's sufferings 
and ignorance have continued for want of observance of 
those intuitions and suggestions. Have we not here an all- 
powerful, all-wise, ever-present and infinite God, worthy of 
all respect and veneration, whether we arc able to define 
and comprehend his actual being, or not ? The contest of 
man as to this being's personal attributes is infinitely absurd. 
When we comprehend properly that our own being and 
capacities, whether a portion of that being be incorporeal 
and spiritual or not, it must be definite, and prescribed by 
the laws of its being, outside of which it can by no possi- 
bility emerge ; when we reflect that, being created, it must 
be finite, and therefore incapable of comprehending infinity 
in any aspect, then we shall cease this endless wrangle as to 
the personality, or impersonality of God. The conclusions 
of logic upon such a subject are not worth a straw, and the 
corresponding question, whether matter be eternal and self- 
existent, or not, is equally outside the reach of logic. 

It was a failure to reach this conclusion, that opened the 
door to the almost endless variety of human ideas as to the 
character of Deity. The order observable by the crudest 
ignorance, in the works of nature, soon relegated that order 
to a superior being or beings. 

Good and evil, sunshine and storm, naturally formed ele- 
ments in conceptions of his character. 

So, when conceptions of any one in a society, had ac- 
quired shape and definiteness, it soon became an object 
of superstitious dread, and reverential worship. 

Difference in surroundings and difference in character 
and capacities gave birth to different kinds of gods, as the 
degree of capacity, in different individuals, and communi- 
ties, gave birth to different implements for the same kind of 
work, or to different instruments of music. 

Competition naturally sprung up, for control of the mar- 
kets for these different kinds of wares, until the superiority 
of one, compelled conformity of others to their different 
style of plows, musical instruments or gods. 

It being the idea of all ignorant savage natures, that the 
kindly offices of their gods could be procured by charms, 
amulets, incense offerings and prayers, they would naturally 
prove the most desirable things in the market, and those 
having the exclusive dispensation of such things would soon 
find, they were in possession of the best paying monopoly 



10 

extant. Depending upon the ignorance of the masses, for 
the perpetuity of this monopoly, it can be clearly seen what 
an opposing force was thus created, to the spread of truth 
and knowledge. Such was the actual condition of Europe 
for about 1,000 years — after the destruction of Serapis and 
the murder of Hypatia. 

Draper says of the doctrines of Epicurus that they 
abound in our own days, and continues, " They are ever 
characterized by the same features — an intense egotism in 
their social relations, superficiality in their philosophical 
views, if that term can be applied to intellects so narrow. 
They manifest an accordance, often loud and particular, 
with the religion of their country, while in their hearts and 
in their lives, they are utter infidels. 

" It is to them, that society is indebted for more than half 
its corruptions, all its hypocrisy, and more than half its sins. 
It is they, who infuse into it falsehood as respects the past 
— imposture, as respects the present — fraud, as respects the 
future ; who teach it by example, that the course of man's 
life, ought to be determined upon principles of selfishness, 
that gratitude and affection are well enough, if displayed 
for effect, but that they should never be felt ; that men are 
to be looked upon, not as men, but as things to be used ; 
that knowledge and integrity, patriotism and virtue, are the 
delusions of simpletons, and that wealth, is the only object 
really worthy of the homage of man." 

Among the many instances in which history gives evi- 
dences of the evils of inequality of condition and rights, 
Draper, in his " Intellectual Development of Europe,'* 
says : " In Italy itself the consumption of life was so great 
that there was no possibility of the slaves by birth meeting 
the requirement ; and the supply of others, by war, became 
necessary." He says, " The treatment of these slaves was 
atrociously unjust. On the murder of one Pedanius, four 
hundred slaves were put to death, when it was obvious to 
every one, that scarcely any of them had known of the 
crime." 

" The rule of law, that not only the slaves within the 
house where a master was murdered, but even those within 
the reach of his voice, were to be put to death, shows the 
small estimate of the value of the lives of these unfortu 
nates, and the entire absence of any sense of justice or feel- 
ings of humanity, in their owners. He further says, " To 



11 

such a degree had this system been developed, slave labor 
was actually cheaper than animal, and work formerly done 
by cattle, was done by men. The class of independent 
hirelings, which he says, should have constituted the chief 
strength of the country, disappeared ; labor becoming ^o 
ignoble that the poor citizen could not become an artisan, 
but must remain a pauper — a sturdy beggar — except 
from the state bread and amusements." 

" The personal uncleanness and shiftless condition of 
these classes were the cause of leprosy and other loathsome 
diseases. Epidemics occurring from time to time, produced 
a dreadful mortality. In the reign of Titus, 10,000 died in 
one day in Rome. The effect of this system was to make 
demagogues of them ; when not engaged in war, spending 
their lives in the intrigues of political faction and the tur- 
bulence and excitement of elections and law-suits. 

" The disappearance of this hireling class was the imme- 
diate cause of the downfall of the empire, for the aristoc- 
racy were left without any antagonist, and therefore with- 
out any restraint." 

In describing the downward path of this empire, he con- 
tinues, " The concentration of power, and the increase of 
immorality proceeded with equal step. As the process went 
on, the virtues which had adorned the earlier times disap- 
peared, and in the end were replaced by crimes such as the 
world had never before witnessed and never will again." 
" An evil day is approaching when it becomes recognized 
in a community that the only standard of social distinction 
is wealth. That day in Rome was soon followed by corrup- 
tion and terrorism. No language can describe its state after 
the civil wars." 

" The accumulation of power and wealth gave rise to 
universal depravity. Law ceased to be of any value. A 
suitor must deposit a bribe, before a trial could be had. 
The social body was a festering mass of rottenness. The 
people had become a populace ; the aristocracy was demon- 
iac; the city was a hell. No crime that the annals of hu- 
man wickedness can show, was left unperpetrated. Re- 
morseless murders, the betrayal of parents, husbands, wives, 
friends, poisoning reduced to a system, adultery degenerat- 
ing into incests and crimes that can not be written." 

Ignorance, and superstition, have been the vantage 
ground, of the crafty, selfish and heartless, from the earliest 



12 

period of human life. Through them, the great mass of the 
race have been kept in a condition of servitude to an insig- 
nificant minority. 

To-day, the rulers of a majority of the civilized races of 
man announce their laws and edicts as " kings by the grace 
of God;" would it not be more consistent for them to say, 
"Kings through the ignorance, folly and superstition of 
man"? 

We are now living under laws and customs, derived 
from, and having their origin in, the craft, ignorance and su- 
perstition of the early ages, modified as intelligence has 
been able to detect and expose errors, and to effect reform- 
ing changes. Nevertheless, the condition of humanity to- 
day, advanced though it may be, plainly indicates a neces- 

sitv for further reform. 

«/ 

When it is charged that ignorance and superstition gave 
opportunity for the establishment of these oppressive laws 
and customs, the fact is brought feelingly home to us, when 
we reflect that it is only about two centuries since our own 
people were condemned, burned and drowned as witches. 

Our progressive age is becoming restive under the slow 
advance of reform. 

Our increasing numbers are beginning to clamor at the 
rapidity with which great private estates are being accumu- 
lated, and at the gigantic strides corporate monopolies are 
taking, in anchoring their interests and power upon the vi- 
tals of the land. 

Nihilism, communism, agrarianism, land leagues, labor 
unions and farmers' alliance organizations, all indicate a 
fear, disaffection and unrest, the embodiment and realization 
of which is based upon the past and present evils, unequal 
condition and rights have entailed upon the human race. 

For the past two years our country and people have been 
on the high tides of prosperity. Emerging from the. lowest 
ebb — the most trying and distressing times in financial affairs 
we have ever reached, there is danger we shall too soon for- 
get our liability to be again precipitated from this situation 
by the recurring ebb. 

It is well to take a brief retrospect of the situation then, 
to keep alive a proper watchful care, and make provision to 
meet the inevitable reaction. All that I wish, upon this 
point, is to recall to j^our memories how our cities, villages 
and towns — our streets and country thoroughfares, were 



13 

thronged by people seeking, or pretending to seek for, em- 
ployment. Among them were numbers of worthless, des- 
perate and dangerous characters ; but there were honest and 
worthy forced to seek employment by its absence in their 
own locality. Driven by necessity to mingle in this army., 
necessarily made up from the lower strata of the communi- 
ties of cities and towns, it is hard to contemplate the effect 
of this association upon them. Dogs, guns and municipal 
ordinances were called into requisition to abate the nuisance. 
A community of interests, brought about by indiscriminate 
condemnation, naturally tended to unite them together, and 
to bring the standard of the better portion down toward the 
lower grade. 

But the tramp has become a subject of history. Now, 
the employer hunts the highway for the laborer, and mourns 
like Rachael because they are not. So, it has become appar- 
ent that the tramp is not altogether unreclaimable ; that 
missionary efforts upon them are a better investment than 
upon the heathen of other lands. They have in some way 
become useful producers. They have found places where 
they serve as cogs on the wheels of industry. This shows 
what are the improving tendencies of opportunities of the 
right kind. 

As a corollary of this brief reminiscence, I wish to lay 
down a principle, as a future guide. Action and re-action, 
progression and retrogression, ebbs and flows, life and death, 
govern the universe. We are just as certain to have an ebb 
to this flood-tide of prosperity, as that you are here, and it is 
wise to make provisions to meet it. 

What provision shall we make for the augmented army 
of tramps that every recurring ebb from our increasing 
numbers will pour upon us ? 

It is surprising how soon, under the smiles of prosperity 
and fortune, recollections of the bitter experiences of hu- 
manity are thrown into the waste baskets of memory, and 
forgotten. How little care there has been taken to ferret 
out the originating causes of these evils, and to raise the 
proper beacons to guide us from the shoals, rocks and quick- 
sands upon which so many governments have stranded, and 
where so much individual happiness has been wrecked ! 
Why has not a more intelligent effort been made to establish 
rules of action, by which to avoid these evils ? Is it possi- 
ble there may yet be evolved a system out of the confusion 



14 

now existing ? Why may not all these matters be made 
subjects of special and exact science? and what are the 
reasons they are not ? Is it not mainly because of the erro- 
neous opinions of the expounders of moral ethics, whose 
efforts have been prompted more from a desire to bolster up 
existing creeds and customs, than from an aim to arrive at 
bottom facts and principles ? 

Is it possible that the human being and what affects 
his destiny are less the subjects of law and order, than are 
all other objects of scientific investigation ? and, if so sub- 
ject, has not the influence of creeds and popular currents of 
thought been so directed as to keep down a knowledge of 
that fact ? and could anything but confusion be expected in 
any branch of investigation, where the great, underlying 
principles from which every thing has originated are dis- 
owned and disregarded ? 

In works upon the rise, decline and fall of empires, 
it is true, historians have given accurate accounts of regula- 
tions and customs that have brought about those fatal and 
destructive results ; but they have miserably failed to draw 
from the lessons they recount, conclusions and suggestions 
by which those evils might in the future be avoided. 

Inequality of rights and class distinction originated in 
the first place from individual effort for the acquisition of 
wealth, and from a natural tendency in the individual to ex- 
ercise authority over others. This tendency can be observed 
in the human being, among the first indications of character. 
The smallest number of boys and girls, at their sports, will 
have some one or more among them that will endeavor to 
assume direction and control. The iron will and the settled 
purpose usually leads to submission of the milder and less 
exacting natures, and such selfish, determined spirits hold 
sway until unreasonable exactions lead to rebellion and over- 
throw of this authority. The history of humanity shows 
that men are but children of a larger growth. The child is 
father to the man. This is a generic as well as an individ- 
ual truth. The impulse of ambition in the grown and culti- 
vated is but the fruitage of the early germ. 

These selfish promptings and ambitious aspirations insti- 
tuted and built up these distinctions of classes, that estab- 
lished the inequality of rights and conditions of man. 

A glance at history shows that wars of conquest have 
generally originated in an unjust, avaricious spirit; that 



15 

revolution, disruption and destruction of governments, came 
from oppression of the masses, and, in these struggles, un- 
known and untold millions of .human beings have met with 
bloody and untimely deaths. Besides the horrible sufferings 
entailed upon the whole race — in the slaughter of men, wo- 
men and children; in the destruction and pillage of cities, 
towns and hamlets ; in the horrid plagues that have germi- 
nated from the putrid exhalations from unburied " carcasses 
of carrion men ; " in the famines that have followed the 
forced absence of the tiller of the soil from his avocation, 
and the waste and destruction of matured and growing 
crops and of farming implements, always an attendant of 
the savage struggles of brute force— besides, and sometimes 
worse than all these, has been the destruction of a knowl- 
edge of all the arts, sciences and industries ; of the systems 
of morals and laws, the results of centuries of work of the 
patient laborers in the cause of human progress. 

It was this selfish ambition in the ruler that originated 
these wars of conquest. It was the same selfish, unjust 
motives that led to all the slavery to which the human race 
has been subjected. 

In barbarous times the ownership of human beings be- 
came an established custom, and grew out of that selfish 
greed of wealth and power that entirely smothered the 
sense of justice and the feeling of human sympathy. 

The spread and perpetuation of thought and knowledge 
lay successive discoveries in the fields of science, mechanics, 
philosophy and moral ethics, at last reached into the regions 
of speculation as to the relations of humanity to the uni- 
verse, and of individuals to each other. Gradually the idea 
of natural and inalienable rights, pertaining to the single 
human being, began to dawn upon the intelligence of man. 

At last the gathering force reached a culmination, and 
in a general sense, found expression and became embodied 
in the fundamental law of our civil government. Although 
expressed, there was a lamentable failure in giving the prin- 
ciple a general enforcement, and that failure resulted in the 
most disastrous consequences. 

Originating, as all other human slavery has done, in a 
violation of sacred natural rights, by the operation of selfish 
avarice, retribution followed in its wake, and compensation 
for the wrong is dawning upon the oppressed race. 

There is undoubtedly an avenging Nemesis following in 



16 

the wake of all violation of the principles of right, justice 
and humanity. Unfortunately, it is often so tardy individ- 
ual sufferers do not always receive their compensation here. 
It comes not the less — if not to the individual, it finally 
reaches his posterity. 

The same is true of retribution. They are both evidently 
parts of the infinite scheme of the universe, and whether 
wrongs to humanity are committed by subjugation of the 
person to legal slavery, or by other oppressive laws or cus- 
toms, in process of time they work out their legitimate re- 
sults in an enforced penalty for the wrong committed. 

The grasping cupidity of nations, and individuals, seems 
to have been, but little checked, by either religious, or phi- 
losophic, teachings. 

For 1900 years, it has been preached, " Ye cannot serve 
God and Mammon." It seems we have bravely outgrown, 
that antipathy. We, have reconciled the two gods. They 
are now, often worshiped, under the same roof. 

Human necessity, now demands some more effective 
remedy, than the injunctions, to charity and benevolence 
found in holy books. 

Could we have a panoramic view, of the conditions, 
through which, the human race has passed, from the time, 
of primeval man, what terrible scenes, of suffering, and 
misery, we should behold. And could we have, clearly set 
before us, the laws, and usages, from which they originated 
in the same panoramic view, what a guide, and warning, 
it would be. But, such guides as these are plainly in- 
consistent, with present orderings, or, we might have, 
stamped upon the heavens, such authoritative edicts of Deity, 
as would compel, observance. 

That does not seem, to be the plan, on the other hand 
there appears to be, a price, set upon all desirable things. 
Human effort, is the key, human good, the reward. The 
treasures of knowledge and truth are the rewards only of 
labor, as are the fruits of the earth the rewards of the tiller 
of the soil. 

From the slight glimpses, history gives, of the origin of 
government, it appears to have started, in parental authori- 
ty thence, passing as numbers increased, to a tribal head, 
thence, to the baronial or Feudal system, thence, to Kings 
and Emperors, thence, to a government, of the people, by 
their delegated authority. 



17 

In all cases — under all these forms of government, the 
subject matter was, how to regulate, the same conglomerate, 
of desires, passions, affections, and interests. 

Under the first four, when the ruler was prompted, by 
affection for his people — if guided by a wise intelligence, 
his community prospered, when not encroached upon, by 
avaricious and warlike neighbors. 

But Kings, Emperors, and Barons — Tribal Chiefs, and 
parents, are but human, and, the characteristics, essential to 
a good ruler, cannot always, be expected, to descend, from 
father to son, in fact, they are qualities, rarely united. So, 
after many — many centuries experience — wherein the bad, 
has certainly predominated, over the good, the idea began to 
dawn, of restricting, the power of rulers, by rules of action, 
until by slow degrees, their arbitrary power, received, a 
wholesome check. 

Our own free government, at last, sprouted from, the 
geneological tree. 

In all this process of advance, the prime inciter, was, the 
intelligence of the private citizen. 

But, new truths, and principles, though clear, and trans- 
parent, to finely constituted minds, are slow, to impress 
themselves, upon the average intellect. The ruts of custom, 
and the influence of opposing ideas, and interests, make 
their spread and acceptance tardy. This is true, of such 
discoveries, and inventions, as affect directly, the individual 
health and happiness. How slow, has been the acquisition, 
of a knowledge, of the laws of hygiene, — of the proper 
regulation of the animal passions, and desires. How few, 
there are, that properly, understand and limit, the appetite 
for food, so as to keep, their physical systems, in the highest 
state, of health, and enjoyment. 

That, being the case, as to what affects, directly the in- 
dividual welfare, it is not strange, that, what affects humani- 
ty in the mass, should be, so little understood. 

It has not been so clearly taught, and enforced, as it 
should have been by leaders, and teachers, of moral ethics, 
and philosophy, that laws, and governments, are things of 
growth, and progress, and that, the various steps in advance, 
wait upon, a germination and birth, in the intelligence of 
man. The diligent student, it is true, may glean as much, 
from the writings of deep thinkers, but the general promul- 
gation of this great truth has been checked, in the interests, 



18 

and under the influence, of that conservative spirit, that 
fears, that, a knowledge of bottom facts and principles, 
would lead to too radical changes. Another reason for this 
ignorance lies in the fact, that a vast majority of the human 
race, have a constant struggle, to supply the necessities of 
nature, and to guard themselves, against, the painful vicissi- 
tudes of climate, and the most of the residue are engaged in 
a remorseless scramble for wealth. 

True, the free access, to our cheap literature, is gradually 
toning up, the intellect, and preparing the way, to a more 
free, and ready acceptance, of new truths as they are pre- 
sented. 

Government, laws, social regulations, and customs, make 
their start from the desires, passions, affections, and inter- 
ests, of man. What are they ? Man, the epitome of the 
work of creation, seems to have in his nature all the various 
attributes found in all the forms of sentient life below him. 
His mental, spiritual, moral and physical nature seems to be 
the summing up of all of nature's manifestations in the lower 
orders of life. 

These are the original elements, the control, direction 
and development of which gave birth to human law. The 
preying upon the innocent and unsuspecting by the crafty, 
selfish and heartless, would naturally rouse resentment and 
opposition in the benevolent and magnanimous. Intelli- 
gence under the spur of interest suggested methods by which 
the rights of the weak might be better protected. From 
such small beginnings, the structure of our law has sprung. 

Originating from such sources, they necessarily, partook 
of the character of their source. The parental authority, 
was either arbitrary, and tyrannical, or benevolent, and mild, 
as the parent's disposition, was one, or the other. The same, 
is true, of all systems, where law, and authority, were vested 
in, or originated with, the single individual. Errors, ema- 
nating from such sources, mixing with the good, gradually, 
became guarded, and protected, by conservation, reverence 
and superstition, and, when once fairly entrenched, behind 
them, they were, invulnerable, to all efforts of change, ex- 
cept, as examples arose in other families, tribes, or govern- 
ments. Commercial intercourse, and the mixing of families, 
tribes, or the people of different governments, either as cap- 
tured subjects, slaves, or travelers and explorers, wrought 
changes, and reforms, by slow degrees. 



19 

The success of priests and rulers, in commanding, the 
general belief, of the masses, in the actual enunciation, of 
their laws, by Deity itself, though perhaps necessary in con- 
trolling savage natures, proved, a most formidable barrier, 
to the elimination of errors, and the adoption of progressive 
regulations, in their place. To this day, the same influence 
is operating, and will continue to operate, until it becomes 
thoroughly understood, and acted upon, that, human laws 
come from human necessities, acting as spurs, to the human 
intellect, under the control and direction of the laws of 
cause and effect. When that time arrives, the great obsta- 
cle, to human reform, and progress, will be removed, and the 
door, will be thrown wide open, for the advent, of humaniz- 
ing laws, and customs, that will lead, as far, to a millennial 
epoch, as the nature of man, in this world of mixed motives 
— of good and evil, will allow. 

A great example, in advance of political and civil rights, 
is held up, as a light, to lead other nations in the path of 
progress, by our free government. The avenues to reform 
and progress are thrown wide open, by the unlimited free- 
dom of expression allowed to individuals and the press. 
The good attainable by that perfect freedom far more than 
counterbalances the evil of free license to advocate all the 
impracticable and pernicious isms that can originate in the 
morbid mentality of world savers and utopiests. Our future 
progress — our salvation from the threatening evils of the 
coming times, lies ih guarding that perfect freedom of dis- 
cussion 

That irrepressible conflict between the elements of good 
and evil must, in the nature of things, always exist. They 
must be free to meet in the arena of debate that educated 
intelligence may discern the way to avoid the one and obtain 
the other. 

Though ownership of the human chattel is no longer con- 
sistent with our advanced moral standards, do not our civil 
and legal regulations — our social and commercial customs 
and rules, evade the spirit, while ostensibly following the 
forms, of progress and reform ? Or, in plainer terms, is not 
as abject a condition of human servitude attainable by stress 
of laws tending to inequality of condition, as by absolute 
legal ownership of the human chattel ? 

This point of these tendencies is worthy of thorough 
consideration ; for upon it turns the question, whether there 



20 

is any reason to institute reforms that will tend to check 
the evils from this source ; for, if our present customs are- 
as near perfection as the frailty of humanity will admit, and 
there can be no further incitement to progress created than 
now exists, it is all folly to dwell upon our present and 
prospective evils, and to endeavor to set up barriers and 
safeguards against them. If we are certain we have attained 
the outer limits of progression, the discussion of these agi- 
tating and disturbing questions should not be further al- 
lowed, and all advocates of change should be looked upon 
as disturbers of the peace and well-being of society, and 
subject to the same forcible restraint as he who commits a 
breach of the peace by a personal assault. 

Can there be reforms and improvements in human regu- 
lations, that will lessen the evils to which we are subject ? 
and that will effect a general improvement and advance in 
our condition and happiness ? Or are our evils incurable, 
and must we come to the conclusion of the pessimist, that 
those evils are an essential part in the economy of nature, 
and that evil and not good is the result and outcome of this 
life ? that, although evils may be a spur and incentive to- 
effort to avoid them, the effort to suppress them is visionary 
and Quixotic? and that, despite all such efforts, there must 
still continue the same endless round of good and evil, of 
happiness and misery ? 

This latter conclusion is most paralyzing and deadening 
in its effects, and is a reproach and sfeigma upon the over- 
ruling intelligence, not borne out by facts. If the folly of 
man, in not rightly comprehending the lessons experience 
teaches, puts far off or entirely prevents the good that would 
result from a true interpretation of those lessons, it certainly 
does not follow good would not come from such true inter- 
pretation and application of them. 

You may ask, if evil be not an unavoidable part of the 
system of the - universe, why the sufferings of birth and 
death ? Undoubtedly they are a part, but are they an aim- 
less and objectless part ? 

In the instances cited, are not those pains terribly aug- 
mented by the artificial customs and dietary habits of civil- 
ized life, that disregard the .natural laws of health and 
vigor, and are they not essential in keeping up a proper 
idea of the sacredness of human life ? and do they not 
most powerfully enforce the important lesson of the equality 
of man ? 



21 

" Death levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's crook 
beside the scepter." 

Contemplation of such facts, and a full experience in the 
school of adversity, teach a valuable lesson as to the real 
equality of man. A change of situation, from prosperity to 
adversity, eradicates notions of superiority, and creates a 
fellow feeling for the poor and suffering. The naked form 
of crazy Tom, draws out some fine philosophy from frenzied 
Lear, while they are exposed to a storm of the elements. 
Looking at his naked form, and his two clothed attendants, 
he says: 

"Is man no more than this ! Consider him well ; 
Thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, 
The sheep no wool, the cat no perfume ; 
Ha ! here are three of us sophisticated. Thou 
Art the thing itself. Unaccommodated nature 
Is no more but such a poor, bare, forked stick 
Aj thou art." 

And how beautifully his sympathies for the poor are drawn 
•out by his own sufferings from the war of elements to which he is 
exposed : 

"Poor, naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 
That bide the peltings of this pitiless storm, 
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, 
Your looped and windowed raggedness, 
Defend you from seasons such as these?" 

And how perfectly, under the same situation, he suggests my 
remedy : 

"Oh ! I have ta'en too little care of this ! 
Take physic, pomp ; expose thyself to feel 
What wretches feel, that thou mayest shake 
Thy superfiux to them, and show the heavens more just." 

That there can be such reforming rules of government, and 
customs of commerce and society, instituted, as will set humanity 
bounding forward on the path of progress, may not be an idle 
dream. 

Would it not be a happy consummation, to tone down the 
grasping, selfish spirit, so that, on the attainment of a competency 
for life, the individual would direct his efforts to advancing his 
own and the general happiness, in the paths of knowledge, art or 
philanthropy, and in social intercourse with friends, and at his 
own fireside? 

Before stating the measures I have to propose, to accomplish 
these results, I wish to state that the declaration of bills of rights 
attached to the Constitution of our General Government, and to 
those of our States, declare life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
ness to be inalienable rights; and that of the State of Massachu- 



22 

setts says : " Whenever these rights are not obtained, the people 
have a right to alter the government, and to take measures neces- 
sary for their safety, prosperity and happiness." Clauses embody- 
ing the same idea are found in nearly all the bills of rights of 
other States. 

No one will dispute the right of the majority to make such 
changes. 

Now, should it be apparent to a majority that their rights, 
safety, happiness and prosperity were in jeopardy by the growing 
power of corporations and capitalists, will it be denied that that 
majority has the right and power to make such a change, even 
when it can be accomplished in no other way than by discrimi- 
nating against them ? If so, rights, interests and power must be 
thrown into the opposing scales, and determine the matter. One 
or the other party must yield in such a contest, or a violent 
struggle for mastery is sure to ensue. 

The measure I propose is a system of graduated taxation, on 
property, on incomes and on legacies, for the support of govern- 
ment. Suppose we commence such a system upon a basis that it 
would require an average tax of i per cent, on the property, 2 
per cent, on the incomes, and 3 per cent, on the legacies. Tax- 
ing 1^ of the average rate, on property, incomes and legacies, on 
amounts of $500; ^ on amounts of $1,000 to $2,000; y^ on 
over $2,000 to $ro,ooo ; average on $10,000 to $25,000 ; 1^ on 
$25,000 to $50,000; ij^on $50,000 to $100,000, and 1^ the 
average on over $100,000. 

Property owners of % 500 would pay % I 25 

2,000 " 10 00 

10,000 " 75 00 

25,000 " 250 00 

50 000 " 625 00 

ioo.ooo " 1,500 00 

150,000 " 2,625 °° 

Tax on incomes would amount to double. On legacies 
they would be trebled. The amount on $1,000,000 by this 
rate would be : on property, $17,500 ; on income, $35,000 ; on 
legacies, $52,500. I have taken this rate merely to illustrate. 

Measures to effect these objects must be grounded on true 
principles, and be general in their nature. They must not be of 
an ephemeral, partial nature. If so, they " will but film, and 
skin the ulcerous place, whiles rank corruption, mining all within, 
infects unseen." 

What I propose is of this general nature. Remedying the 
evils enumerated, they also check and remedy the evils of class 
distinction and corporate monopolies. 

Fairly in force, no class legislation is required. It is, in its 
nature, a most efficient equalizer. 



23 

It distributes the burdens of society and government accord- 
ing to the capacity of the subject — as the farmer, by his draft- 
equalizer, distributes the burden of the draft, according to the 
strength of his animals. 

This measure meets these evils in such a manner as to keep 
alive active competition of the individual, which is destroyed by 
a community interest in property accumulations. For an illustra- 
tion, suppose one-half the taxable property of the United States 
to be owned by those having $20,000 and upward. 

Are there many young men or women who start in life or 
business with the expectation of attaining a larger sum ? Our 
population being 50,000,000,,, one property owner to five would 
give 10,000,000 ; and $2,000 to each would make the taxable 
property of the United States, $20,000,000,000. Is not the $20,- 
000 sufficient to stimulate the beginner to effort, and if, in the 
attainment of that amount, he should be relieved from one-half 
the tax he would otherwise have to pay, would not that be an ad- 
ditional stimulant to effort ? It is apparent, at the first glance, 
that this measure is a compromise between the demands and 
rights of the various isms and organizations that have been men- 
tioned, and the rights of capitalists and corporations. It, in a 
measure, places organized human society upon the plan or pattern 
nature furnishes in the apparently perfect operation of the organ- 
ized community of the bee. 

It makes man's first duty, as the bee's, due to society, and his 
personal and private good is promoted, as he promotes the general. 

Is it a just system ? Or does it so trench upon existing rights, 
as now allowed, as to more than counterbalance the good it is de- 
signed to attain ? Government and social organizations are formed 
by a surrender, modification and exchange of rights, and an as- 
sumption of duty, by the individual, to society or government. 
No laws 01 rules can be imposed upon communities already or- 
ganized, that will operate in all instances with perfect equality, and 
the rule to govern, in the adoption of new regulations, is — will 
the good more than counterbalance the evil ? 

It is evidently in accord with the highest teachings of the 
moralist, the philosopher, and the founder of Christianity. If our 
institutions are not in accord with them, the sooner we make them 
so, the better. 

The object of human regulations being to regulate the opera- 
tion of human desires, passions and capacities, so as to promote 
the general good, and in doing that, necessarily checking their 
operation when productive of evil, makes it as legitimate a duty 
to throw restraints around all such inordinate ambition — all such 
thirst for wealth and power as are injurious to the general welfare 
— as to restrict the individual wrong-doer from acts against the 
welfare of his individual neighbor. 



24 

It is a sorry condition of humanity that makes a Napoleon a 
necessity. The world has had enough such characters. As the 
field of martial enterprise contracts, their ambition naturally finds 
vent in other channels. 

The common interests of humanity demand regulations to 
check their ambitions in these other lines, that give opportunity 
of serious injury to the welfare of humanity. And we should 
apply these checks while the power to do so is yet in our hands. 

I hardly need to say that the growth and pervading influence 
of these immense estates and monopolies is rapidly and insidi- 
ously working to control that power — to take it from our hands. 
We can clearly see how the will and interest of the people are 
thwarted by the use of money, in our legislative halls. If, for 
love of money, our representatives will barter the interests of 
those they represent, love of the position will lead to contracts 
of sale, to secure the influence of wealth before an election. 

Indeed, have we not already reached that point, where money 
is the chief factor in a political contest? This fact alone should 
arouse the fears, and stimulate to action, every lover of humanity. 
It is the insidious approach of an enemy to our free institutions ; 
beginning by corruption of our virtues, as the first works in 
our defense to be carried. 

Already a change in duration of terms of service is advocated 
by one of the leading magazines, making office terms to last dur- 
ing good behavior. The venality and use of wealth in our elec- 
tions and legislatures, give that suggestion weight, and both the 
suggestion and the fact are the strongest arguments for striking 
at the root of the evils, as I propose, and striking soon — of 
" working while it is yet day, for the night cometh." 

This measure can be put in operation with no sudden shock 
to the existing order of things. 

Its advocacy, instead of arousing heated passions, is cal- 
culated to allay them. It disarms all these various isms of 
their only foundation, and effectually relieves us of danger from 
them. 

The evils that have originated from the source at which it 
strikes, have been and are such as to make it an object to avoid 
them, if possible, by any reasonable means. 

There is one consideration that lessens the apparent injustice, 
in establishing this plan upon a community, wherein great differ- 
ence of individual wealth exists, and that is in the equal respon- 
sibility of personal service, in defense of the government, whether 
the individual be propertyless or worth millions. 

It would seem to be a hard requirement to ask of one subject 
that he should give up all in defense of his government, when a 
small moiety of his possessions would be accepted from another. 

When the propertyless youth enlists in defense of his country, 



25 

it is his all. When a poor man, with a family dependent upon 
him, is drafted, it is the same. in the event of death, both lay 
their all upon the altar of their country. 

The life of a government depends more upon the effective 
number of its defenders, than upon the owners of the large 
estates. 

Change of governments has generally affected the pecuniary 
interests of the property owners more than the propertyless. 
Levies of indemnity upon conquered provinces come from the 
wealthy, not the poor. The loss and destruction occasioned by 
domestic insurrection and revolution, more seriously affects the 
wealthy than the poor. Cities are sacked, and palatial homes are 
pillaged. Property of the poor is more often unmolested than 
that of the rich. 

These considerations seem to establish the justice of a progres- 
sive, a graduated rate of taxation — to what an extent, is the next 
question. If $5,000 is the average wealth of the tax payer sub- 
ject to draft, then it would seem that for every $5,000 above, 
owned by one individual, he should be required to make up an 
equivalent of the bodily service that goes with the tax on the 
first $5,000. This not only demonstrates a justice in graduated 
taxation, but furnishes a basis of ascertainment of rate. 

Taking these views of the matter into mind, and reflecting 
that one of the objects of the measure is to disarm these hydra- 
headed monsters, whose threats and intentions are pointing di- 
rectly to the extremely wealthy class ; though it may operate a 
little hard with some, yet it seems as though the good results to 
follow are so apparent, that quite an influential number of the 
philanthropic of that class will become enlisted in favor of the 
measure. The Fagins and Shylocks will, of course condemn it. 
The peculiarities of the octopus are too firmly fixed in their na- 
tures to surrender their power over their victims for any humane 
object. 

Fortunate for the world it is, that they are not all of that 
character. The life of the late George Peabody furnishes a noted 
instance. His wealth flowed in streams of munificence, to benefit 
and uplift the race of man. Contrast his course with the vast 
numbers of the wealthy who, not content with the advantage and 
power their enormous possessions give them, aie eternally seek- 
ing to augment the purchasing power of money, to increase the 
advantage they already enjoy. 

We must not ignore the fact of disparity of character and ca- 
pacity, in the subjects for whom our laws are created. The poor 
we shall have always with us, and the reckless and improvident 
will always be numerous. 

The last sometimes answer a useful purpose, in the scattering 
of large estates. If their prodigality in distributing the hoardings 



26 

of their ancestry, as is intimated by writers on political economy, 
answers a useful end, would it not be wise to institute such rules 
as would lead to the distribution of such estates, through other 
means than by the profligate spendthrift ? 

It is a favorite idea with such writers, that we can depend up- 
on the natural tendency in owners of inherited wealth, to scatter 
it, and also upon the absence in our laws of rights of primogeni- 
ture and entail, to repress the evils of great estates and monopo- 
lies. If suppression of these evils, and distribution of great 
estates be desirable, why not regulate it by law, in the estab- 
lishment of some such gentle, gradual working method as is 
proposed ? 

Will graduated taxation suppress or retard the great enter- 
prises of the world ? 

While it is an undoubted fact that large accumulations of 
property under one effective head, judiciously used, are of benefit 
to mankind in many ways, it is still evident their effect, in many 
other ways, is injurious. Intelligent aggregation and use of 
force is an essential in the accomplishment of great undertakings. 
Where a want of that intelligence exists among small holders of 
capital, undertakings of great pith and moment can not be suc- 
cessfully carried out by their combination. This lack of intelli- 
gence gives the opportunity for a superior one to manage the 
capital for the less intelligent. In these great undertakings, the 
small owners rely upon the superior executive ability of their 
head, and what, without such a directing head, would be a failure,, 
and result in loss, proves a success. 

But the facilities for acquiring that business ability are so 
great — so many instances are daily occurring where superior 
natural power in the individual carves its own way from indigence 
to a public recognition of superior business ability and fidelity, 
there can be little doubt but aggregated capital of small holders 
would be as effectively used by heads selected from this ever- 
increasing class, as by the single autocratic owner. No railroad 
of importance in the United States, but gives proof of this in the 
elevation to the most important offices in the companies, of those 
originally employed in their lowest grade of work. The same is 
also true of all other lines of business, in trade or manufactures. 
Vast numbers of men are now thoroughly educated and fitted to 
fill all the special departments of service, in Banking, Mechanical 
or Railroad enterprise. All that is essential to carry any needed 
enterprise into successful operation, is that there shall be an 
abundance of capital not otherwise remuneratively employed. 

Capital, like labor, flows to where it is wanted. 

Perhaps enormous amounts would be slower raised if loanable 
wealth were scattered in small sums, than if aggregated in the 
hands of a few ; but the history of our great enterprises, whether 



27 

Railroad or Manufactures, shows the most of them have originated 
with the smaller capitalist, and the larger ones who have ulti- 
mately been enlisted, have, as Aaron's rod with the magicians, 
swallowed all the rest. Indeed, it appears this process has far 
more augmented the enormous fortunes of our Railroad Kings 
than any other. 

In our country, when great capital has seen opportunity for 
great enterprise, the first move has been a draft on, or donation 
from, the common fund of the people, and great capitalists, not 
content with grants of empires in territory, have asked and fre- 
quently obtained liberal subsidies in addition. 

It must be acknowledged that the evils as yet resulting from 
railroad monopolies have been far more than counterbalanced by 
their benefits to the human race. It is the fear of what they may 
become that mainly stimulates the cry against them, and is caus- 
ing these efforts to place them under legislative control of State 
and General Government. Ownership of stock of railroad com- 
panies being private property, the question is pertinent, whether 
a special law would not be class legislation, and whether, if it be 
desirable to place them under legislative control, the law should 
not apply to all other corporations, as well 'as to them. Such a 
law as I propose, obviates in a measure necessity for such special 
legislation. 

But it is mainly in monopolizing the lines of business and em- 
ployment wherein lies the evils of great estates and corporations. 
If they are essential to the welfare of one class of humanity, they, 
with the classes benefited, should be made jointly responsible for 
the injury they inflict upon other classes, and this measure ac- 
complishes that result. 

The time, is now upon us, when the necessities of these world 
reclaiming enterprises are so manifestly essential, to the general 
interests of the masses of all governments, that they will not be 
allowed to lag, for want of government support, especially, when 
governments in reality, as well as name are run for the welfare of 
the citizen, as they will be, when these laws are in force. The 
same motives, that impels to their adoption will operate on gov- 
ernments, from the want of outlet for increasing numbers, and all 
such undertakings, as will supply that want, will be treated, with 
a fostering care. 

The most weighty argument, against the communistic project, 
of distribution of property, that if it were divided, but a short 
time would elapse, until, from improvidence, it would soon work 
back, to the same condition, does not apply, to this plan. No 
contributions, are to be made, to the improvident, only, in relief 
from taxation, and the question is pertinent, whether, this light- 
ening up the pathway to a competence, would not be an effective 
stimulant to effort, on the part of the poor? whether, it would 



25 

not open the doors of opportunity and hope to many, now in des- 
pair — and save numbers from the suicide's grave. 

It should also be considered, what effect, the enlargement of 
the field of opportunity, would have, upon the criminal class. 
How many there are, that are now educated, to be thieves, by the 
force of surrounding circumstances, from their birth ? 

And it should also, be considered, whether, their operation, 
would not result in checking, inordinate thirst for large posses- 
sions, and lessen the temptation to breaches of trust, and fraud, 
in obtaining wealth. 

It should also, be considered, how much, it will tone up, and 
harmonize the sentiments, and feelings towards one another. In 
the accomplishment of these ends — if it will effect them, and 
of that I have no doubt, consider, how it will lessen crimes, and 
insanity, and how, the money now expended for such causes may 
be used to benefit mankind. Consider, also, what toning up the 
human character in this manner, in different nations, will do to 
check unjust dealings between them, how it will culminate in the 
spread of the feeling of good will to man. The plan is as wide- 
reaching as the territory that man inhabits. 

There are few reflective minds but perceive the dangers of a 
revolutionary crisis resulting from the increasing inequalities of 
classes, and individuals, and our rapidly increasing numbers; and 
while they cannot deny, the well established fact, of an infancy, 
growth and decline — a sort of national youth, manhood, old age, 
and final death, they cannot but be aware of a prolonged exist- 
ence both to the individual and nation, by a wise management, 
and direction of its vital elements. That such crisises menace 
all governments, is as true, as that the individual is subject to 
contagious diseases. Upon this point Draper says, in language 
that cannot be improved : " Force on the part of interests that 
are distributed may postpone the crisis, but it is inevitable when 
the intellect of a people has outgrown its faith. It is the most 
solemn of all the duties of governments, when once they have 
become aware of such momentous conditions, to prepare the 
nations for its fearful consequences." 

If the great evils that have befallen humanity have come from 
causes that can be placed under control of human regula- 
tions, and human effort, is it not a duty to adopt and apply 
them ? 

History having demonstrated the fact, that the most gigantic 
evils, to which it has been subjected, have grown out of the divis- 
ion of classes into which, from inherent difference of capacity it 
naturally gravitated — it becomes apparent that such tendencies, 
should be so far placed under restrictions, as to mitigate those 
evils, and if possible, prevent their recurrence. 

In our own country, that boasts the freest government, and 



29 

most advanced civilization the condition of humanity corrobo- 
rates the testimony of history. 

Many of the most important discoveries and inventions of 
man, have been so simple; and so essential to his welfare, that 
when first announced they have excited astonishment that they 
should not have sooner presented themselves to his inquisitive 
spirit. This is a fact in regard to all matters affecting his physical, 
intellectual, moral and spiritual nature. 

Many of the obstacles preventing a more rapid advance, have 
been stated in what has heretofore been said. Undoubtedly the 
greatest has been, the enslavement of the intellect, to the tradi- 
tions and forms of the past. 

The announcement of individual human rights, by our revo- 
lutionary fathers, from its simple and self-evident truth, was to 
other nations, like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. 

It met with the unqualified approval of all philanthropic, pro- 
gressive spirits. 

It was but the declaration of freedom from two classes of 
oppression, kingly, and priestly rule. 

Aimed entirely at these two evils, it nevertheless opened the 
door, to all other forms of progress. We are beginning to reap 
the harvest from the seed thus sown, but we are, as yet only in 
the vestibule of the temple of freedom and knowledge. With 
the exception of relief from servitude to kingcraft and priestcraft, 
we have only been preparing the way to that larger freedom and 
that broader scope of knowledge, that is ferreting out the sources 
of evil and preparing solutions, that will relieve humanity of 
many other oppressions that now hold it in bondage, and clog 
by their obstruction, the pathway of progress. 

The sense of human justice, and the knowledge of human 
wrongs, that no observing and reflective mind, can be ignorant 
of, is calculated to insure the acceptance, and adoption of such 
schemes, as contain within themselves, a self-evident fitness to 
redress those wrongs, and 'that are so plain and simple, the scope 
of their operation can be readily, and fully comprehended, by 
any ordinary mind. 

Of such a simple nature is the remedy of graduated taxation 
for support of government. 

The operation of this system in meeting and gradually sup- 
pressing the evils of class distinctions and corporate monopolies, 
and their ever attendant evils of turbulent organizations — the 
natural fungus and barnacular growth of their existence is so 
plainly apparent, so axiomatically true, there does not ap- 
pear any possible chance for interested parties, to prevent its 
adoption. 

It appeals directly to the interests and welfare of nine-tenths 
of the people of the United States. 



30 

" It is the only project, short of violent revolution, that offers 
a remedy for the evils enumerated. 

All others, and revolution itself, offer no permanent cure. 
None strike at the root and origin. This, most effectually eradi- 
cates it. With no seed to spring from, these disorganizing revo- 
lutionary societies cannot grow to life. 

The vital interests of the human race give it an impregnable 
fortress. 

It is an essential factor, in the stability of our government ; 
a natural outgrowth therefrom. 

It was the interests of humanity from which our government 
sprung. 

It is the interests of that same humanity that gives birth 
to this. 

In those interests it finds an invulnerable shield, that will pro- 
tect it from attacks of all opposing forces. Its arrows or weapons 
of defence and offence point in all directions. 

It is liable to no attack, except from the selfish interests of the 
classes, from which the evils it is designed to rectify, have sprung. 

They may for a time becloud the judgment by sophistical 
arguments, but self, will be so apparent, in all their efforts, they 
must at no distant day surrender. Their kicking against the 
pricks, of the interests and necessities of humanity, are as vain 
and futile as to attempt to circumscribe and limit the spread of 
the light of knowledge from the sun of truth, or the light from 
that other sun that illuminates our system of worlds. 

The principle of individualism, stands out, in bold relief, in 
the teachings of Christ — not, to the extent, to which some of our 
extremists stretch it, but so far, that all good, all reform — all 
change, must begin, and grow to life, in the single spirit. But 
individualism, when isolated, is like the single strand of the cable 
— of small power, to hold, against the storms of error, united, it 
holds fast to the sheet anchor of safety, progress, and 
reform. 

All of man's ideas, and inventions, have their suggestions — 
their prototypes in the creation, operations and productions of 
the universe. All these things, are constantly appealing to his 
senses, and capacities, stimulating thought, and provoking action. 
The idea, of some fancied or real good — some present, or pros- 
pective gratification, always precedes effort. 

We pattern, and try to improve upon the works of nature. In 
many fields, use of knowledge, skilfully applied, has made great 
changes, and advance. Instances of this, are found in our do- 
mestic animals, and fowls — in our cereals, vegetables, and fruits. 

Let us apply these capacities to force onward progression, to 
the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual, nature of man. But, 
to do so, we must remove the obstructions, that centuries of igno- 



31 

ranee, superstition, and injustice, have erected, to stop its onward 
march. 

The great Founder of Christianity, in His teachings, dimly fore- 
shadowed the attainment of such an end. 

He laid down, the general principles that would lead to it. 

I find in the writings of the Rev. George McDonald, expres- 
sions, embodying the sentiments of Christ, in such expressive 
language — and they are so appropriate, and form one of the 
reasons, upon which I rely, for the acceptances of my proposi- 
tion I will state what he says : 

"Property, involves service, to every human soul, that lives, 
and labors, upon it — the service of the older brother, to his less 
burdened, yet more enduring, and more helpless brothers, and 
sisters ; that for the lives, of all such, he has, in his degree, to 
render an account. For surely, God never meant to uplift a man, 
at the expense of his fellows, but, to uplift him, that he might be 
strong to minister, as a wise friend and ruler, to their highest and 
best needs, first of all, by giving them the justice, that will be 
recognized as such, by Him before whom, a man is his brother's 
keeper, and becomes a Cain in denying it." 

Is this a true statement, of the responsibilities, of the property 
owner ? 

Whether true, or not, it certainly embodies, the idea, of an 
individual stewardship, taught by Christ. But his teachings, not 
only regard, property, but capacities, as held under, the same 
conditions. 

Shakspeare, enforces, a somewhat^ similar idea, when he says, 
" Spirits, are not finely touched, but, for fine issues," and argues, 
" For if our virtues do not go forth of us t'were all alike, as if we 
had them not." The truth is, that in all our ends, aims, attain- 
ments and capacities, whether we know,and acknowledge it, or not, 
we, are only acting, as good, or bad stewards,' in, the great econ- 
omy of nature. If the light bestowed on the individual, is hid- 
den, under a bushel, he is then acting, the part of an unfaithful 
steward. 

But the light bestowed upon any human soul, can hardly be 
so obscured, that its gleams, will not illume, some darkened cor- 
ner, and the property accumulations, though, they may be guarded, 
with jealous, miserly care — hidden in some nook, or cranny, or 
perhaps, buried, in the earth, its future discovery, proves the ac- 
cumulator, to have been a steward, for the coming generations — 
that he toiled, and sweat, and pinched himself — not for the pres- 
ent good of himself, or his generation, but, for those, who should 
come after him 

The facts of the case are, that we are but factors, in the great 
Alchemy of life, — agencies — intelligent, though we may be, work- 
ing out the great designs of the intelligent, all pervading mind. 



32 

But though there be " a Divinity, that shapes our ends, rough- 
hew them how we will," it is yet clear, that our enjoyment, or suf- 
fering, depends, upon, how perfectly, we understand, and live up 
to, the laws, of our being, or, how ignorant, and regardless of 
them, we may be in the regulation oPour lives. 

It is perfectly plain, that we are the main factors, in the knead- 
ing into shape, the discordant elements, of human life, that pro- 
duce, either its happiness, or its misery. 

This measure, is, the practical culmination of the Gospel of 
good will to man. The embodiment, of the principle, of a hu- 
man brotherhood — the enforcement, of the idea that man is his 
brother's keeper, in so far, as his acts, or omissions, affect, his 
welfare or condition. 

It makes, what has been, heretofore, an abstraction, a duty. 
It embodies the beneficent teachings of philosophy, and religion. 

They unite, upon this common ground, for their own, and, the 
good of the world. 

The philosophic idea, that no life is pleasing to God, that is 
not useful to man, joins hands, with the Christian precept, of a 
stewardship — of a responsibility, for the welfare, and condition^ 
of our fellow man. 

Here, the great, essential, and vitalizing truths of Philosophies 
and religions unite, and are born into fruit producing life. 

Note. — The writer's aim, in the preceding pages, has been to give defu 
niteness and direction to efforts for reform and improvement in the condition 
of humanity. In due time, this pamphlet will be followed by a more specific 
treatment of the important generalities and principles set forth. 

The Author. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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